Can only one of four friends own it?

[Hillbilly's Gf]

Like, can only one person have this game and have friends join in on them without them owning it themselves?

[LaChouette]

Only if playing local multi-player (you don't need controllers for this, but you can have a controller per person if you want).
For online multi-player, everyone needs the game.

[Altun]

You can use something like parsec though.

[Pikakip]

If you use discord or skype to share screens, only one person needs to own it and you can just have your friends choose their options while you select! (that's actually recommended in the multiplayer right now since it keeps crashing)

[Hillbilly's Gf]

thank you all very much for answering, ya'll helped me a ton!